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NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 4 Conquering the Summit — Let us think and reflect

Book page 170 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. “Bachendri Pal instilled confidence in Arunima and said, ‘My child, you decided to climb Mount Everest in these situations with a prosthetic leg — you have conquered the Everest within you; the world will realise it later.' On 21 May 2013, after 52 exhausting days, Arunima Sinha reached the summit of Mount Everest. Standing at the top of the world, she felt a surge of emotions — pride, relief, and an overwhelming sense of achievement.” 1. Complete the sentence with a suitable reason. Bachendri Pal said that Arunima had conquered the Everest within her because ___________________.
Answer

… she had already defeated the far harder mountain of pain, grief and self-doubt — for a woman who had just lost a leg to decide, in those circumstances, to climb the world's highest peak was itself the greatest victory.

What “the Everest within you” means: Bachendri Pal is using Everest as a metaphor for the obstacle inside a person — fear, despair, the voice that says “not any more”. Arunima had beaten that voice on the day she made her vow, long before she touched the mountain. The rock and ice were only what remained.
Note the second half of the sentence: “the world will realise it later.” Bachendri Pal is saying that the real victory was already won; the world would simply need proof, and it got that proof on 21 May 2013.
Q2.
2. How might Arunima have felt after what Bachendri Pal told her?
Answer

She would have felt encouraged, understood and far more confident.

  • Believed in at last. Many people had called her plan impossible. Here was the first Indian woman to climb Everest telling her she had already half done it.
  • Validated. Someone had finally seen her decision as strength rather than as a patient's fantasy.
  • Determined. The text says Bachendri Pal “instilled confidence” in her — the words did not merely comfort her, they steadied her for eighteen months of rigorous training.
  • Moved and grateful. Being addressed as “my child” by her idol would have meant a great deal.
Tip: A “how might X have felt” question wants named feelings plus a reason for each. Two or three well-explained feelings beat a long list.
Q3.
3. Choose a phrase from the extract which shows that reaching the summit of Mount Everest was tiring.
Answer

“after 52 exhausting days”

Why this phrase: Two words do all the work. “52 days” gives the sheer length of the effort — nearly two months on the mountain. “exhausting” tells us what those days cost her. Together they show that the summit was not one heroic push but weeks of grinding, freezing, oxygen-starved climbing.
Tip: When a question says “choose a phrase from the extract”, copy the words exactly and put them in quotation marks. Do not paraphrase.
Q4.
4. Select the correct option to complete the sentence. After her success when Arunima felt ‘an overwhelming sense of achievement', she would have most likely said, “___________________.” (i) I am confident of my abilities (ii) I will accomplish this soon (iii) I am excited to begin this climb (iv) I finally realised my dream
Answer

(iv) I finally realised my dream

Why: The key word is “achievement” — something already completed. She is standing on the summit; the climb is over. Option (iv) is the only one in the past, and the word “finally” matches the 52 exhausting days and the two years of preparation behind her.
OptionWhen she might have said it
(i) I am confident of my abilitiesDuring training, after Bachendri Pal's encouragement.
(ii) I will accomplish this soonOn the way up, near the summit.
(iii) I am excited to begin this climbAt base camp, before setting out.
(iv) I finally realised my dreamAt the summit — the moment described here.
Q5.
Answer the following questions. 1. What did Arunima do in order to fulfill her ambition of conquering Mount Everest?
Answer

She turned a vow into a programme of work. In order:

  1. She survived the accident of 11 April 2011 and, after the amputation, received a prosthetic leg and underwent physiotherapy.
  2. During that recovery she read an article about Mount Everest and resolved to climb it.
  3. She completed a basic mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi.
  4. She put in eighteen months of rigorous training.
  5. She approached Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to summit Everest, to guide her — and received both training and confidence from her.
  6. She climbed, and on 21 May 2013, after 52 exhausting days, she reached the summit, where she displayed the Indian flag and left a photograph of her idol, Swami Vivekananda.
Tip: This question asks “what did she do”, so answer with actions in sequence, with the names and dates the text gives. Do not turn it into a paragraph about her courage.
Q6.
2. Arunima is a beacon of hope and resilience. Support this statement with evidence from the text.
Answer

Every stage of her life after 2011 supports it:

Evidence from the textWhat it shows
On 11 April 2011 she met with a train accident; “she never imagined she would survive that night, but survive she did, miraculously, displaying an extraordinary will to live.”Resilience at its most basic — the refusal to die.
Lying in hospital with one leg amputated, she vowed “not only to walk again with a prosthetic leg but to scale Mount Everest.”She answered the worst loss of her life with the biggest goal available.
A basic mountaineering course, eighteen months of rigorous training, and guidance from Bachendri Pal.Hope backed by discipline, not wishful thinking.
21 May 2013 — the summit of Everest, the first Indian female amputee to do so.The vow kept.
By July 2016 she had climbed the highest peaks of six continents; in January 2019 she climbed Mount Vinson in Antarctica, becoming the world's first female amputee to do so, and completed the Seven Summits.Everest was a beginning, not an end.
Padma Shri (2015), the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, the National Award for Best Female Mountaineer, an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde.Her example is recognised well beyond mountaineering.
“Never give up and work hard. Always remember your goal and work on it.”She hands the method on — that is what makes her a beacon and not just a champion.
Q7.
3. Arunima's autobiography is titled Born Again on the Mountain: A Story of Losing Everything and Finding It Back. Why do you think this title is appropriate?
Answer

The title is appropriate because each of its three parts matches a real stage of her life.

  • “Losing Everything” — in one night in April 2011 she lost a leg, her career as a national-level volleyball player, and the plan of joining the paramilitary forces that she had studied for.
  • “Born Again on the Mountain” — her new life did not begin in the hospital but on the slopes of Everest. When she stood at the summit on 21 May 2013 she was no longer an accident victim; she was a mountaineer. The mountain gave her a second identity, so “born again” is exact rather than dramatic.
  • “Finding It Back” — she did not merely recover what she had lost. She found something larger: the Seven Summits, the Padma Shri, an honorary doctorate, and an audience across the world.
Why the order of the words matters: The title puts the rebirth first and the loss second. That is exactly how she wants her story read — not as an accident that was later survived, but as a life that began on a mountain.
Q8.
4. Arunima says, “Failure is when we don't have goals worthy enough.” What would be the most likely impact of this statement on readers?
Answer

It changes what readers are afraid of.

Her full sentence is: “Failure is not when we fall short of achieving our goals. It is when we don't have goals worthy enough.” Most people fear failure and therefore choose small, safe goals they are sure of reaching. Arunima moves the meaning of failure from the result to the ambition.

The likely effects on a reader:

  • Less fear of trying. If falling short is not failure, there is nothing to lose by attempting something hard.
  • Bigger goals. Readers are pushed to ask whether their goal is worth the years it will take.
  • Persistence. A setback becomes a stage of the journey rather than the end of it.
  • Self-examination. Many readers will realise they have been avoiding the goal they actually want.
Why it carries weight: The sentence is not advice from a comfortable life. It comes from a woman who lost a leg, set the largest goal on earth, and reached it. That is why readers accept it.
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